You know how every now and then the Post or the News or even the Journal or the Times is being given away for free somewhere in our fair city, usually in a sponsored-copies promotion? Well, today, apparently, nearly everything's free. Reports a correspondent:
• LVHRD (pronounced "Live Hard"), a "a group of semi-exclusive hipster/prankster/partythrowers" hosts MCFGHT: Karaoke Showdown, to be judged by drag queens and karaoke kings. Vowels, apparently, will not be admitted. [flavorpill]
• Comedian-about-town Jonathan Ames teams up with Moby for the aptly named Jonathan Ames and Moby Variety Show. Ames's usual cast of characters and lepers join in the fun at Ars Nova. [JonathamAmes.com]
• Makor screens a sneak preview of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. Go for the Lindsay, stay for the Meryl. (Who are we kidding? Stay for the Lindsay.) [Paper]
A reader was apparently handed this card by a tall, dreadlocked man outside the East Village gay bar Eastern Bloc* sometime this weekend — and now we totally know what we want for our next birthday. We can't imagine anything better than a personalized performance from a tall Jewish rapper — except maybe for a performance from a tall Jewish rapper who is, judging from the seal in the card's lower left corner, endorsed by The New Republic. Score.
• Charlie Gibson scores the ABC anchor spot, leaving poor Diane Sawyer high and dry.
• Let's put it this way: Would you want to go sit at Jared Paul Stern's old desk?
• Anderson goes on Oprah, bores us. But he was adorable on an old World News Now. And she's obsessed with death.
• You will not get to go to Africa with Nick Kristof.
• Breaking news: New Yorkers go to gyms! Even Adam Moss and Mr. Big.
• All hail Le Cirque, or so says the Wednesday media club.
• Neither the Clintons nor Shock magazine are very shocking, though the later is a guilty pleasure.
• Gay gay gay. Gay.
• Another gossip type, another book party. Make that two.
• America, this old man is your Idol. And Alessandra will do her best to tell you about it.
• West Chelsea gets even worse.
• The Fifth Avenue Apple store has been open for one full week now. Has your head exploded yet?
• And it's Memorial Day weekend. See you Tuesday.
An afternoon look at Weather.com:
Friday:
• St. Ann's Puppet Labratory brings not one, but two nights of puppetry and glory to NYC on this long weekend. Tonight's puppets grapple with surbubia; tomorrow, FoodTV. Next week, the world. [Stann's Warehouse]
• Soul Position hits the Bowery Ballroom with RJD2. Maybe, after two years, you can finally get that damn Ghostwriter song out of your head. [Prefix]
Next week, the paper can't believe what they charge to rent a car around here.
• Just in time for the long weekend, it's a Paris Hilton nip slip. Personally, we find the footage of her writhing around in the sand, trying so hard to be sexy for her new video, to be far more comical than stupid ol' areola. [TMZ]
• And yet again, another exploration that blogging and menial desk jobs do not always mix. Thanks, we think everyone's got it now. [NYT]
• Jeff Koons brings his sculptural magic to the park at 7 World Trade Center; we don't care if balloon flower sculptures have been all over the place, there's still something about it that just looks dirty. [Animal]
• Kaavya Viswanathan finally joins the ranks of JT Leroy and Go Ask Alice. [Wikipedia]
• The Morning News releases its 2006 Editors' Awards for Online Excellence. We're honored to be noted for our creepiness factor. [TMN]
• An ode to the hipsters whose time has most definitely passed. [Gazpachot]
• We write for everyone, even high school dropouts. [Muckraked]
• Another reason to love Frank Bruni: while on his grand fast-food tour, he got lost because his companion was reading Us Weekly aloud, distracting Bruni from the road and luring him into the world of Charlie and Denise. We've all been there, buddy. [Diner's Journal]
Well, dagnabit, we don't know how we missed this one. Sure, there's Fleet Week bringing thousands of horny, muscled sailors to New York this weekend. And, sure, there's also the Bingham Cup bringing 1,000 jocky, beefy gay rugby players to town. But now it turns out tomorrow is also the start of New York City Hoedown 2006, which will bring a hotel full of sequined, line-dancing gay cowboys to Manhattan for three days of dances and parties.
• First the beard, now a lefty documentary: watch Al Gore continue morphing into a green Michael Moore tonight at Town Hall. Laurie David and Catherine Keener, among others, join the panel tonight at 8. [Ticketmaster]
• Steve Coleman and the Five Elements play at the Jazz Gallery. Start off the long weekend all classy (since it won't stay that way). [flavorpill]
• A Place to Bury Strangers hit Northsix, where you can assuage the pain of omnipresent Idol crap far, far away from the world of Paula Abdul. [Prefix]
From Craigslist, this morning alone:
After yesterday's news of a bouncer who pulled a gun on patrons, killing one and wounding three others, bouncer-blogger Rob from Clublife is, once again, on the top of lazy journalists' Google searches. As a response, he tells us, to the 20-something media calls he received yesterday, Rob has issued his thorough explanation of how some bouncers become murderers:
• Beyond the fact that Cool Culture opens museums and zoos to thousands of disadavantaged families, its benefit tonight is hosted by chic types. Do it for the children. And the scene. [Cool Culture]
• The Dave Hill Explosion hits UCB, featuring beloved SNL freak Fred Armisen, musician Walter Schreifels, and dear Malcom Gladwell. Don't miss the chance to see his hair live. [Dave Hill]
• What would a French film be without an existential crisis? Neither French nor hip. Luckily, La Moustache meets the requirement and adds some bonus facial hair, just to bring it home. [flavorpill]
There's no particularly great reason to be telling you about this, except that several people excitedly told us about it yesterday and, knowing the proclivities of a good chunk of you folks, we suspect you'll be excited about it, too. There's a gay rugby tournament coming to the city this weekend. That is to say, there will be something like 1,000 big burly gay jocks wandering the streets of Manhattan this weekend.
Spotted prancing around inside the gates of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard building, the turkey pictured at right is part of the government's latest effort to multitask, fighting terrorism while getting a jump on holiday meal plans. Besides being rather tasty, this ever-vigilant bird has pledged to keep our fair island safe from tender greens, assorted nuts, small bugs, and spiders.
Gunfire broke out at West Chelsea stripey den Opus 22 last night, resulting in one dead and three wounded. The culprit? The bouncer, of course. You know, the dude that's there for safety and crowd control [insert obligatory Darryl Littlejohn shout-out]. The victims were at a private open-mic party at the club and were asked to leave to make way for another event. They were allowed to reenter the club but had to pay a $20 entrance fee; the intoxicated patrons refused:
